Barn (unit)A barn (symbol: b) is a metric unit of area equal to e−28m2 (100 fm2). Originally used in nuclear physics for expressing the cross sectional area of nuclei and nuclear reactions, today it is also used in all fields of high-energy physics to express the cross sections of any scattering process, and is best understood as a measure of the probability of interaction between small particles. A barn is approximately the cross-sectional area of a uranium nucleus.
Belle experimentThe Belle experiment was a particle physics experiment conducted by the Belle Collaboration, an international collaboration of more than 400 physicists and engineers, at the High Energy Accelerator Research Organisation (KEK) in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. The experiment ran from 1999 to 2010. The Belle detector was located at the collision point of the asymmetric-energy electron–positron collider, KEKB.
Physics beyond the Standard ModelPhysics beyond the Standard Model (BSM) refers to the theoretical developments needed to explain the deficiencies of the Standard Model, such as the inability to explain the fundamental parameters of the standard model, the strong CP problem, neutrino oscillations, matter–antimatter asymmetry, and the nature of dark matter and dark energy. Another problem lies within the mathematical framework of the Standard Model itself: the Standard Model is inconsistent with that of general relativity, and one or both theories break down under certain conditions, such as spacetime singularities like the Big Bang and black hole event horizons.
Generalized continued fractionIn complex analysis, a branch of mathematics, a generalized continued fraction is a generalization of regular continued fractions in canonical form, in which the partial numerators and partial denominators can assume arbitrary complex values. A generalized continued fraction is an expression of the form where the an (n > 0) are the partial numerators, the bn are the partial denominators, and the leading term b0 is called the integer part of the continued fraction.
Gauss's continued fractionIn complex analysis, Gauss's continued fraction is a particular class of continued fractions derived from hypergeometric functions. It was one of the first analytic continued fractions known to mathematics, and it can be used to represent several important elementary functions, as well as some of the more complicated transcendental functions. Lambert published several examples of continued fractions in this form in 1768, and both Euler and Lagrange investigated similar constructions, but it was Carl Friedrich Gauss who utilized the algebra described in the next section to deduce the general form of this continued fraction, in 1813.
